Bulldogs forward set to miss two games

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Canterbury forward David Klemmer has been charged by the NRL Match Review Committee after making contact with a referee during the Bulldogs' win over the Panthers in Round 2.

The base charge for this offence would not usually result in a player missing any games, but Klemmer has loadings from prior offences and also carry over points from a previous charge.

Klemmer was charged with Grade One Contrary Conduct – Contact with Match Official, which has a base penalty of 125 points. An early guilty plea allows a 25 per cent discount, meaning Klemmer could have reduced his points to 94 and not missed a game (100 points equals one game).

However Klemmer has a 50 per cent loading for a prior similar offence in the past two years, and also two 20 per cent loadings for two prior non-similar offences in the past two years.

All of these loadings take Klemmer's base charge from 125 points to 237 points.

An early guilty plea would reduce the 237 points to 178, but Klemmer then has 40 carry over points from prior offences, thus a total of 218 points which means a potential two-game suspension with 18 carry over points.

Bulldogs captain James Graham was not charged by the Match Review Committee, having been penalised for a shoulder charge on Panthers prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard.

Video footage from the NRL referee's bunker was used in determining Graham's fate.

"The vision shows that James Graham's right arm is clearly away from his body as he is attempting the tackle in a wrapping motion," Match Review coordinator Michael Buettner said.

"For a tackle to constitute a shoulder charge the upper arm would need to be tucked into the body. That is not the case here."

If Klemmer takes an early guilty plea he will miss matches against the Eels in Round 3 and the Rabbitohs on Good Friday in Round 4.